Axminster thicknesser planer bevel gears

[RWD1]

Hi all

I have the Axminster mb1933 thicknesser and noticed last time I did a glut of planing that the pieces were starting to come out slightly wedge shaped.

Would the plastic bevel gears on the bottom of the height adjustment threads cause this?
I have noticed that there is a fair amount of play between the cog and the end of the joining shaft, but also between the two cogs. There looks to be wear on some of the teeth on one of them.

Does anyone know if these can be bought anywhere? Even better - metal versions?

 

[Amplidyne]

Looks to me in the one shot as if the one gear is possibly bad enough to have skipped a tooth.
You can buy metal and plastic gears, ready made, whether to this exact spec is another matter. but you'll have to get the gears bored out to suit. Worth having a look on Amazon to start with I'd have thought.
Spares from Axminster, or get something 3d printed in nylon would be the alternatives.

 

[RWD1]

Thanks for your reply. I did ask axminster if they had a dust spout for this, but alas they didn't, so I ended up making one. I will give them a call but am not holding up much hope tbh.

I think you're right about getting something near and then get it bored out maybe

 

[ChaiLatte]

You have identified an 'effect' (wedge shaped pieces). You appear to have a potential 'cause' in mind for that effect (problem with the gears). What else is there other than an itch in your brain that verifies that cause?

What test have you done to prove the cutter head is no longer parallel to the bed of the machine? Did you slide something in there and use feeler gauge or strip of paper to quantify any difference side-to-side?

How many teeth are there on the bevel gears? What is the pitch of the adjustment screws? If the gear teeth have slipped, they can only do so by an integer number of teeth. If any out-of-adjustment does not correlate to an integer number of teeth slippage, you need to look further.

 

[Amplidyne]

Thanks for your reply. I did ask axminster if they had a dust spout for this, but alas they didn't, so I ended up making one. I will give them a call but am not holding up much hope tbh.

I think you're right about getting something near and then get it bored out maybe

I know from a mate of mine who worked in the industry that machine shops often buy in gears ready made, and bore to suit, rather than making them themselves. I have looked in the past, and there is lots of choice online. Worth having a look around for price I'd have thought.
As ChailaLatte says, check that the gears are the cause first though. It's easy to jump to conclusions, although that one gear looks like it's going to be trouble at some point, even if that isn't the cause.